Conventions of Space and Time
Plot End tag The study group watches the American version of "Inspector Spacetime" starring Luke Perry and Jennie Garth. Abed then tells Pierce that he hates him. Recurring themes Continuity *'Previously': **In the morning, Annie hands Britta a hair curler after she enters her bedroom, a callback to a comment she had made about Britta curling her hair in the morning in the Season Two episode "The Psychology of Letting Go". **The "Inspector Spacetime" Christmas special featured in the Season Three episode "Regional Holiday Music" is discussed by Abed and Toby. *'That just happened': ** While pretending to be someone else, Annie talks about her career as a forensic investigator, a major that Abed had suggested she take in "History 101". ** Pierce reads from his book "Pierce Hawthorne's ideas for ladies" that Annie found in his mansion in "Paranormal Parentage". *'Googly eyes': **It's revealed that Troy and Britta have been sleeping together for awhile but tried to keep it a secret from Abed. **Jeff and Annie's feelings for each other surface again with Annie's excitement at the idea of them being married and Jeff claiming that he would never be flirting with another woman if he was married to Annie. *'All by myself': Pierce voices his frustration over not being invited to the convention. Though he is less bothered by it once they reveal Shirley wasn't invited as well, he still crashes the convention along with Shirley anyway. *'This must be the place': Troy and Abed's apartment and Group Study Room F are featured briefly. *Winger speech: Abed delivers the lesson to be learned in this episode to his new friend Toby, while doing a Jeff impression. *'Familiar faces': Beverly Hills, 90210 alumni Luke Perry and Jennie Garth appear as the American Inspector and his Constable. Running gags *'Biggest laugh of the night!': After staying the night in Troy's room, Britta is forced to go through an elaborate routine to keep up the appearance that she and Troy haven't been sleeping together. **In her bra and panties she exits the window of Troy's bedroom. **She swings across the fire escape to an adjoining fire escape where she does a somersault while putting on her pants. ** She then lands on the adjoining fire escape outside Annie's bedroom where a slumbering Annie hands her a curling iron. **She finishes dressing and heads outside to the hallway while Troy and Abed are in his room discussing the event itinerary. **In the apartment hallway, she grabs her shoes from where she hid them over the lamps. **Using a broom, she pokes at a tile in the drop ceiling where she hid a bag of donuts. **With the donuts in hand, she knocks on the front door of the apartment and pretends that she is bringing breakfast for Troy. * Nice outfit: **Troy and Abed dress up as the Inspector and "Constable Reggie". **Toby Weeks dressed up as the Third Inspector. *'NOOOOOO!': Jeff and Abed scream when they turn on the study room light and find Pierce sitting in the dark. *'Rhyme time': Seeking some support against Troy and Abed's dislike of the female Inspector Minerva, Britta turns to Annie but is told by her "You're on your own, Al Capone." *'That's you': Abed does his impression of Jeff while giving Toby a Winger speech. *'You're the worst!': This phrase is replaced by references to "Minerva", a female Inspector universally reviled by "Inspector Spacetime" fans. Pop culture references *'Product placement': Toby mentions that Cadbury Cream Eggs are sold year round in England. *'Shout out': **Annie daydreams about marrying Zac Efron. **Abed points out to Toby that he is dressed as the inspector whose actor was pursuing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_McCartney. Meta references *'Everyone's a critic': The focus test group can be seen as a nod to the behind the scenes conflict between NBC and Community creator and ex-showrunner Dan Harmon. The executives asked that he try to broaden the appeal of the show but Harmon would often refuse. Shirley extolling the virtues of "Inspector Spacetime" as a show that is "smart, complicated, and doesn't talk down to it's audience" and asking the American producers not to change it can be seen as more commentary on the matter. *'Homage': The "Doctor Who" spoof/homage "Inspector Spacetime is featured again and it's shown that there have been multiple actors to play the Inspector throughout the shows history, much like "The Doctor". *'IRL: 'Toby mentioned to Abed that his best friend was named David. The actor who portrays Toby is Matt Lucas who is known for being on the show Little Britain with his real life best friend David Walliams. Matt Lucas has since become a regular on "Doctor Who" as the human/cyborg Nardole. *'Up against the wall': **The American "Inspector Spacetime" shown to the focus group show is credited as having been directed by Tristram Shapeero and written by Maggie Bandur, the same writer and director of this episode. **Jeff's hotel room number is 404, the production code number of this episode. It had been scheduled to be the fourth episode aired this season but was switched to the third. Reception Reviews Television critic Jace lacob of the online entertainment news site "The Daily Beast" announced on his twitter account the name of the episode on January 21, 2013. He had seen previews of it and "History 101" and gave the episodes favorable reviews. Fellow TV crittic Micheal Auseillo from TV Line wasn't as pleased with the episode: Speaking of Community, I’ve seen the show’s long-awaited Feb. 7 season premiere — and it’s good. Like, really good. Like, you’d-almost-never-know-Dan-Harmon-left good. I also screened a second Season 4 installment — the one set at a Comic-Con-esque convention — and that episode was… um… how shall I put this… crickets Did I mention the premiere is good? Trivia The same location used for Jeff's law firm is used for this episode as the hotel/convention center for "InSpecTiCon" in this episode. Quotes Category:Community Episodes Category:Season 4 Episodes Category:Troy and Abed Category:Troy and Britta Category:Jeff and Annie